An advisor/attorney for Cotto (37-2, 30 knockouts) for his past 18 fights starting in the fall of 2004, Penagaricano, 43, said that much depends on whether or not Pacquiao is able to renew the twice-failed negotiations for a bout against Mayweather.

The owner of the WBA’s junior middleweight crown, Cotto, 31, is coming off last month’s 10th-round stoppage of ex-beltholder Antonio Margarito at New York’s Madison Square Garden, which avenged Margarito’s 11th-round knockout victory that dethroned a previously unbeaten Cotto as WBA titleholder in July of 2008.

The stoppage was the third straight for Cotto since being dethroned by Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KOs) as WBO welterweight beltholder via 12th-round knockout in November of 2009. Cotto dethroned Yuri Foreman by ninth-round stoppage in his junior middleweight debut in June of 2010, and vanquished ex-beltholder Ricard Mayorga via 12th-round knockout in March.

Cotto’s resurrection has him being considered as a potential rival for Pacquiao, 33, either in May or June, along with Mayweather (42-0, 26 KOs), RING lightweight beltholder Juan Manuel Marquez, WBO junior welterweight titleholder Tim Bradley and IBF/WBA junior welterweight titlewinner Lamont Peterson.

The five fighters’ names were presented to Pacquiao by his promoter, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, and his advisor, Michael Koncz, who reportedly favored Cotto after their discussion.

“We have a list of fighters he can fight in the immediate future. Cotto has a lot of people’s say because of how great he performed against Margarito,” said Arum during an interview with Chino Trinidad of GMA News in the Philippines on Jan. 12.

“And not only that, [Cotto] demonstrated his drawing power by selling out Madison Square Garden and doing big numbers on pay per view as we analyzed pay per view numbers.”